Croatian Political Mystery Finally Solved?
Ružica Vukovac, an MP from MOST, revealed that she was responsible for the decision by her party to break off coalition negotiations with SDP and enter into alliance with HDZ-led Patriotic Coalition. She claims that the day before the final agreement with SDP was to be made she overheard one SDP member saying that they did not need the entire MOST, reports Jutarnji List on February 22, 2016.
The SDP member in question was Nenad Stazić, one of the most outspoken members of the party and a long-time MP. Stazić himself admits that he discussed the issue with the president of one of the parties belonging to SDP-led Croatia Is Growing coalition.
The event took place on 21 December last year, at the traditional charity concert “I Want Life” for the Ana Rukavina Foundation. That same evening, SDP held a meeting of its party presidency. Unlike SDP, HDZ had not agreed to the terms set by MOST, so it was likely that MOST and SDP would form a government. However, that same evening at 9 pm the charity concert was held on Ban Jelačić Square. In a nearby cafe, a call centre was organized with various celebrities answering the phones and raising funds for the charity. Among the guests, there were Ružica Vukovac and Nenad Stazić, who was a deputy speaker of the parliament at the time.
“While they negotiated that evening, I was at a the concert, along with prominent members of a party belonging to the Croatia Is Growing coalition. They did not recognize me as a member of MOST, so in my presence they said some very ugly things about us”, said Vukovac and added: “The SDP man called someone on the phone and said that with three Prgomet’s MPs they will surely find another three MPs. He was very sure of himself. When the other person from their coalition told him that MOST was greedy and wanted six ministries, SDP member said: ‘Do not worry, we do not need the entire MOST.'”
It turned out that Stazić was talking about his calculations how many MPs from MOST they needed with Silvano Hrelja, president of the Croatian Pensioners’ Party, which was a member of the Croatia Is Growing coalition. “I do not remember exactly what I said and what I talked about with Hrelja, but I did not participate in negotiations with MOST. The conversation was generally about how many members of parliament from MOST we needed, and she interpreted it in the way she did”, explained Stazić. He added that MOST is just looking for an excuse for their decision to enter a coalition with HDZ.
